David Duckenfield faces 95 counts of gross negligence manslaughter if prosecutors can lift a stay on charges being brought.
Photograph: Dave Thompson/Getty Images

The former senior police officer who was the match commander at the Hillsborough disaster is to get funding to fight a possible prosecution on charges of gross negligence manslaughter.

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A judge at Preston crown court, sitting in London, made an order that David Duckenfield qualifies for legal representation at high court proceedings next year.

Mr Justice William Davis had previously heard from a lawyer acting for Duckenfield free of charge that there was no funding to oppose a Crown Prosecution Service application for a stay on prosecution to be lifted.

In making a “representation order”, Davis said the high court application involved factual and legal issues of complexity and “significant public importance”.

Duckenfield, pictured here in 1989, was the overall match commander on the day of the Hillsborough disaster. Photograph: John Giles/PA

A stay on further prosecution was awarded to Duckenfield in 2000 after a private prosecution was brought by the families of those who lost relatives during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground in April 1989.

Duckenfield, now 73, faces 95 counts of gross negligence manslaughter, but he cannot be formally charged pending the outcome of the high court proceedings.

The CPS application was originally due to be heard in January, but will now be in late February. The venue is yet to be decided.

John Dye, who has been acting for Duckenfield pro bono, told the judge he had been “keen not to put any pressure on public funds and remains so”. But Duckenfield’s case for the high court action had to be “properly prepared” and he was “grateful for the assistance he has got”.

Dye has said the high court application involved “serious, complex and novel legal arguments in relation to the lifting of the stay”.

It has previously been reported that South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner had refused to pay Duckenfield’s legal costs.

The funding applied for was for the retired officer to oppose the CPS attempt to lift the stay, and for financial assistance “if necessary” for the costs of his “defence on the charges”.

A total of six people face charges relating to the Hillsborough disaster, with future trials scheduled to be held at Preston crown court.

The court heard at a previous hearing that those facing charges will attempt to block any prosecution as an “abuse of process” on the grounds of delay and prejudicial publicity.

The defendants have entered no pleas but all have indicated through their lawyers that they will plead not guilty.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans were crushed to death in pens at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989.